Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	faith_n	instrumental_a	justification_n	4,270	5	9.5416	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01539	the ioy of the iust vvith the signes of such. A discourse tending to the comfort of the deiected and afflicted; and to the triall of sinceritie. Being the enlargement of a sermon preached at Black-Friers London; on Psal. 95. 11. By Thomas Gataker B. of D. and pastor of Rotherhith.	Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.	1623 (1623)	STC 11665; ESTC S120494	156,256	180

spirituall relish in them or feele no comfort from them for the present Yea howsoeuer it be true as I said before that the want of alacritie and cheerefulnesse in performance of holy duties especially procured by some wilfull neglect or by some peeuish and way ward disposition framing matter of griefe to it selfe from idle toyes and trifles vnto the disturbance of it selfe in such duties doth much diminish and take away much the grace of them yet it is no lesse true that the constant and conscionable persisting in performance of such duties notwithstanding that all good meanes vsed the poore Christian soule cannot attaine to that alac●ity that faine it would may make them no lesse acceptable if not more acceptable to God than if they were done euen with the greatest delight Suppose two persons attend the King in his hunting or at his sports the one that taketh much delight in the game the other that hath little or no delight in it or the one lustie and healthy and that attendeth him therefore with ease the other weake and faint or lame or hauing some hurt about him in regard whereof he cannot follow him but with much paine and difficultie and yet will not giue ouer but be hard at his heeles still as readie and forward as the former His will may be euery whit as good as the other and his Soueraigne is no lesse if not more for such his seruice beholden to him than to the other Nor may the seruice of such a poore soule therefore be the lesse acceptable to God because it cannot performe it with such alacritie and delight as it desireth And in like manner for Faith and dependance vpon God It is not an argument of no Faith when a man cannot yet attaine to a full perswasion and assurance of Gods speciall fauour towards him and of the free remission of his sinnes in Christ that many other faithfull haue had and many doubtlesse also ordinarily haue This is a consequent rather of Faith that as Augustine saith of workes rather followeth the person iustified than precedeth and goeth before iustification as Faith being an instrumentall cause of producing it as an effect doth It is a consequent I say of it deduced from it as the same Father well sheweth by a Syllogisme wherein Faith is assumed and this perswasion concluded from it and that not simply and absolutely necessarie neither but such as is by generall consent oft seuered from it But for a man though he cannot yet attaine to it yea though he neuer should so long as he liueth yet to resolue to cleaue vnto God with full purpose of heart to sticke close vnto him to depend wholly vpon him and not to giue ouer still seeking and suing to him for it and the constant vse of all good meanes to attaine it like a Courtier who though the King shew him no Countenance but seeme wholly to neglect him and not at all to regard him yet will still follow the Court and tender his seruice and resolue to giue attendance hoping yet to finde acceptance at length yea to doe it constantly whether he shall finde acceptance or no or like the woman of Canaan that would follow Christ still and would take no nay of him though he seemed not only not to regard her or any other that made suit for her but to reiect and put her off with much disgrace it is a sound argument of a true and a liuely Faith and of no small measure of the same Where if it be demanded how this trusting to and dependance vpon God may stand with the want of such assurance I shall not need to say much because the Argument hath by a Reuerend Brother beene of late handled at large Only I make it plaine by this familiar Comparison Put case a poore man hath occasion to make vse of some great Courtier for the effecting of some businesse of great consequence for him euen as much as his life lieth on or all that euer he is worth as suppose the procuring him his pardon for some capitall crime from the Prince And this great Courtier telleth him that though he be but a stranger one that can claime no such thing from him yea one that hath deserued many waies euill of him yet if he trust only to him and rely wholly vpon him hee will do that for him which the poore wretch requireth of him This poore man now in this case may trust only to him neglecting all other means that either others may aduise him to or himselfe sometime thinke on rely wholly vpon him and yet hee may not be fully perswaded that he will effect it for him neither The consideration of his owne want of worth and euill desert his immoderate feare arising from the apprehension of the great danger that hee is in and the subtill perswasion of others that would beare him in hand that he will but delude him and not doe for him as he saith may either seuerally or ioyntly be a meanes to hold his minde in suspence and to keepe him from such assurance Yea his very mistaking and misconstruction of the great mans meaning when he saith If you will trust to or rely vpon me alone for it being possest with a conceit that his want of a full perswasion that hee will doe it which hee cannot yet for his heart-bloud bring his minde to any setled assurance of doth euidently shew that he doth nor trust to him may be a meanes to make him beleeue that he will neuer do it for him because he doth not what he supposeth is therein absolutely required of him which to that great man also if hee should be demanded of it not daring to tell an vntruth would appeare And yet for all this he may resolue to sticke to his mediation only and to rely wholly vpon him and not to seeke or trie any other way whatsoeuer any man shall perswade him to the contrary or whatsoeuer the issue and euent of it shall be And euen so may it well be and is questionlesse with a Christian soule many times God hath proclaimed and published a Patent of pardon and saluation by Christ to all that trust to him for the same A man may so doe encouraged thereunto by this gratious offer and the condition to it annexed yea many an one so doth and yet partly out of the sight and consideration of his owne vnworthinesse partly out of a kind of timorousnesse and pusillanimity of spirit partly by reason of some strong melancholike imagination and partly also through some powerfull delusion of Satan not be able possibly to perswade himselfe that Christ is yet his or that hee hath interest in him hath his sinnes pardoned for him and shall liue eternally by him Yea the very mistaking of the true Nature of sauing Faith and supposing the very essence of it to consist in this particular perswasion

thinke on my name as a man spareth his owne Sonne that serueth him Hee loueth and delighteth in his little weake ones his nouices his young babes in Christ that can scarce almost creepe much lesse goe well alone yet as well as in his great ones his strong his well growen ones that are able to helpe and to tend others For the Lords delight is in all those that feare him and that rely vpon his mercy Hee is content to accept of at their hands what they are able As a little done by a Son giueth his Father much better contentment than a great deale more done by a meere stranger or a seruant And there is the difference betweene a Sonne and a Seruant that a Seruant if he cannot do his Masters work his Master will not keepe him hee must goe seeke him some other seruice whereas a Sonne albeit he be not able to doe ought yet hee is not therefore cast off his Father keepeth him not for the seruice that he doth or can doe him but he keepeth him because he is his Son Yea it is not the wants and infirmities and imperfections or the remainders of sinne and corruption in Gods children that can cause God to cast them off or to abhorre them Our corruptions shall not hurt vs if they doe not please vs saith Augustine Nor is it so much our corruptions as our pleasing of our selues in them that maketh God to be displeased with vs. Any beginning of sincere sanctifying grace then argueth Gods Childe and a weake Childe of God being yet a Childe of God as well as a strong hath good cause and great cause therein to reioyce 2 This inchoate Righteousnesse or first fruits of Gods Spirit is as a sure signe and seale of Iustification and Adoption for Iustification also and Sanctification are neuer sundred or seuered all that are truly iustified are sincerely sanctified and all that are sincerely sanctified are truly iustified also so is it a firme pledge and pawne or earnest rather of future glorification and of whatsoeuer of Gods gratious promises remaineth yet to be made good Christ is as I may so say the Suretie we haue for them He is as our Suretie to God for the discharge of our debt so Gods Surety to vs for the performance of his promises And Gods Spirit in the graces of it is the earnest that he hath giuen vs alreadie before-hand for the better assurance of what is to follow All the promises of God are in Christ Yea and Amen that is firme and stable saith the Apostle And It is God that establisheth vs with you in him who hath also annointed and sealed vs and put the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts And this holy Spirit of Promise wherewith we are anointed and sealed is the earnest of the inheritance by Christ purchased for vs for assurance of possession As a peny therefore giuen in earnest bindeth as firmely as a pound if the partie at least be a sure and sufficient man that one dealeth with so euen the smallest measure of sincere grace being Gods owne earnest bindeth him in regard of his promise accompanying it for without some such word of agreement and promise it could not be an earnest to the making good of all his gratious promises made to the faithfull in generall to those that haue receiued it in particular and may as well therefore minister good hope and giue vndoubted assurance of the performance thereof vnto them in due time And as a weake but a true Faith may as well lay hold vpon Christ and receiue him by God offered it as well as a strong as a feeble and a shaking hand may as well receiue a Kings almes as the lustiest and the ablest mans hand that is So euen a weake beginning of sauing and sanctifying Grace if it can be discerned and discried amids a multitude of wants may as well giue assurance both of present grace and fauour and of future glory with God as the greatest measure that may be And as a peece of Gold that such a poore sicke mans weake hand receiueth of the Kings gift may as much glad him at the heart stand him in as much stead and doe him as much good as that that is receiued with a better So Gods gift by a weake Faith receiued and apprehended may as well comfort a mans soule and as well ioy him at the heart being it may stand him in as much stead and be as beneficiall to him for his good as being receiued by a stronger Yea the maine and principall matter of our ioy here being grounded vpon not so much what we haue alreadie as what wee hope for and shall haue though a peece of gold be better worth and a man therefore may doe more good with it than he can with a small peece of siluer yet the latter may altogether ioy a man as much as the former in regard of the inheritance that is assured vnto him by either So a poore quantitie of Grace though it cannot for the present so much benefit a man either to doe so much good to him or to others by him as a richer larger portion of grace may yet in regard of the heauenly inheritance and future glory that it is an earnest of the one may well minister as much ioy as the other because the one giueth good assurance of the very selfe-same in effect and substance with the other Euery sincere Christian then be he weake or strong hath much matter and good ground of ioy Let all saith the Psalmist that are vpright-hearted reioyce But The Hypocrite hath no cause ●o reioyce As Simon Peter told Simon Magus Thou hast no part nor portion in this businesse for thine heart is not vpright in Gods sight So the Hypocrite hath no part nor share in the Ioy of the Iust because he is not vpright-hearted his heart is not single nor sincere in Gods sight The ioy of the Hypocrite is but momentanie saith Zophar in Iob it is no true no sound no permanent Ioy. As their repentance is so is their reioycing as their godlinesse is so is their Ioy. As they repent in the face but not in the heart So reioyce they may in the face but not in the heart As their godlinesse is all in outward shew nothing in substance nor in truth and therefore it is of no constancie at all of no continuance Thy goodnesse saith God is as a morning cloud that is dissolued as soone as the Sunne breaketh forth and as the dew that melteth and is dried vp as soone as the Sunne shineth on it So is their ioy only a superficiall a seeming reioycing and it shall not therefore last long but it shall fade and faile soone as their goodnesse and godlinesse doth And no maruell For 1. Whence ariseth the ioy here